Too many draws in Europe

The focus shifted to the European arena during the week as the first leg of the semifinal clashes of both the European competitions were played out. Eight teams fought to cement their place in the finals and move a step closer to claiming the European titles. But after the first round the spectators are still clueless as all the four matches ending in draws.
In the Champions League the key moments to note are an own goal and a missed penalty. Liverpool playing hosts to Chelsea took the lead just before half time with Dirk Kuyt’s scrappy effort. And it seemed that with Liverpool’s rigid defence that would be the only goal of the game. It wasn’t! Liverpool who had knocked out Arsenal with 2 late goals, conceded one to Chelsea in the cruellest of fashions. With 94 minutes on the clock and the referee about to end the four minutes injury time play any minute, Kalou whipped in a low cross in the Liverpool box that Riise tried to clear with his head only to see it sneak past Reina for an own goal and a narrow advantage for Chelsea to carry home. Not surprisingly Benitez was left red-faced and questioning the four minutes added on by the referee.

While it was late drama at Anfield, the Nou Camp saw a sensational opening couple of minutes. Manchester United won a penalty early on and up stepped Ronaldo to add yet another feather to his overflowing cap. But shockingly Ronaldo saw his penalty hit the post and harmlessly roll out. Not many would have bet on such a thing happening! The game after that was not much different from a tactical chess match. With Barcelona enjoying as much as 70% possession, ManU’s tactics were clear that they were happy to just shut out Barca and try to snatch one on the break. That didn’t happen though, and the night ended goalless.

The UEFA Cup also had its moment of drama in the match between Bayern Munich and Zenit St. Petersburg. The absence of Luca Toni for the home team did not seem to affect their treble aspirations as they took the lead with Ribery’s penalty in the 19th minute. But the game turned in the Russians’ favour when Lucio ended up following Riise’s example and headed in his own net. The match ended 1-1 giving the Russians a slight edge. In the second semi-final, Rangers and Fiorentina were unable to break each other down ending the game goalless. Rangers, aspiring to lift four trophies at the end of the season, will now have to manage to find the back of the net in Italy next week.